1st:

You’ve touched on a great point here. When we as consumers are accustomed to being able to order just about anything customized to our specific needs and delivered to our doors, the dealer model of being forced to pick from their available inventory becomes increasingly less appealing. So long as there are hundreds of…

Watch the one about the Hornby train: he says something like “most of my mates perished in train-related accidents, but children were cheap in the olden days”.

I’m hoping for a bonus level where the player (as James May), must slowly reassemble a playable vehicle and remark about it’s history.

That’s a nice bad decision, though. What a nice way to enjoy bankruptcy.

Oh, damn! That’s almost as bad as when I decided to build a tree house, got as far as hammering a couple nails into a branch, hanging the hammer onto one of the nails, tying a string (?!) to the nail and letting it dangle, then completely forgetting about the entire endeavor. A few days later, I look back at the tree…

#VetteVanConfirmed

Yeah, Imma go and call bullshit on that one. I’ve never heard anyone suggest you put your car in neutral while in motion (short of trying to catch a stalled engine without stopping, e.g. you found 6th instead of 4th, and just missed disengaging the clutch in time for the engine to spin back up).

And as for engine…

I’d argue that unless you really aren’t paying attention, the time it takes to shift back into gear would be negligible. And on ice, I’ll shift into neutral when coasting to a stop. That small amount of torque to the drive wheels can mean the difference between the tires non-drive wheels sticking to the road and…

Yes this is fine too. It also gives the opportunity to keep that heel and toe on point. TBH, I alternate between both of these depending on the situation.

Your dad’s reasoning is sound, but the key is in balancing wear on your clutch against safety. Keeping your car in gear can mean a lot of things, and by making some slight adjustments to your driving habits, you can have both.

It’s also terrible advice for hills, which I imagine is where most people are doing their engine braking. Great way to burn up your brakes at minimal benefit to your transmission. It almost sounds like he’s saying to cause absolutely no wear, do this. But just like brakes, clutches are wear items. You shouldn’t have…

Indeed this is what I do. I try not to let the engine do too much of the work of slowing, but I do try to always be in a workable gear until stopped in case I need to use it. I can think of two times I’ve kind of used it (both times people not paying attention, one coming up behind me not realizing the light was red,…

That’s good advice especially on a bike. Probably depends on how many cars are around you.

That’s just putting safe driving over pure component wear. Which is not a bad tradeoff at all. Your dad was right, from the perspective of good driving.

Well, it’s England.  You’re put in prison for 20 years for a butter knife.

You act like you don’t enjoy seeing R32 GTS cars go for $20K+ US.

Man you aren’t even kidding. When I was stationed in Japan I picked up an R33 for $5k. Imagine my surprise when I got back stateside and I couldn’t even own one here let alone afford to import one.  

Eh, used tires are like $40 each installed.  It is a tossup.

He better be dropping acid daily.  I don’t want squares running automobile companies.